


The Earthquake

by slowdissolve



Series: KyaLin Sketches and Adventures [4]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 22:19:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11564466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slowdissolve/pseuds/slowdissolve





	The Earthquake

_This is not magic._

Fingers clenched so tightly they bit into the skin of her palms. A film of sweat on her brow. Dust everywhere, grit in her eyes.

A lifetime of having control over the element of earth didn't mean that she'd be safe from being crushed under it, and there were tons of stone above her, precariously balanced on the metal beam that lay across her, slowly pressing the life from her.

It hurt to breathe in. A rib was likely broken. It was hard to focus, but focus meant not dying here under the rubble.

With the shallow breath she could muster, Lin concentrated her energy on bending the metal of the beam, away from her torso, so she had a little room to draw in a little air. It barely budged.

_Don't panic, don't panic._

There'd been nowhere to run. This whole section of the city shook, all at once, and the old buildings were tumbled easily. She'd known something was wrong today. A feeling of woozy instability, very slight, everywhere she'd walked in this neighborhood.

Something shifted, slightly, and a cascade of pebbles and dust showered her. She spit the debris from her mouth and coughed, her side raked with pain. When she recovered, she was as short of breath as before, but more determined than ever to move this mess.

_This is not magic,_ she thought again. She closed her eyes and visualized the metal pressing against her, extending her qi into the pure, fine earth that metal was, and pushed outward from herself. The element yielded to the energy, and she managed to gain a centimeter of space, enough to take the pressure off her bones. It wasn't much, but it was enough to gain a fuller breath.

Relieved slightly, but drained now, she took the time to assess the situation. The beam she'd bent was itself resting on chunks of wall. She couldn't see much else. The ceiling of the hallway she'd been in was about arm's length above her, and a handrail from some stairs was holding down her legs. The stairwell itself seemed to be holding up… maybe. She was looking at it upside-down and in a half-light from above.

She became aware of sounds and smells. Smoke was in the air, and the notion that fire could sweep through the devastated neighborhood made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Babies were wailing in the distance, and the shouts of people looking for others under the rubble. In this building she could hear low moaning and crying. She wasn't the only one trapped.

Her police were likely overwhelmed at this point. This earthquake was the strongest she'd experienced in years. She was on her own to get out of this trap.

She relaxed her stiff shoulders, and had a memory of Kya massaging them, fingers light as butterflies. The best reason to get out. She lay still and quiet, gathering her strength, closing her eyes. If she didn't breathe too deeply, the rib didn't hurt very much, and while her legs were uncomfortable, they were likely just very bruised. Rest. Rest and breathe, and rebuild the qi.

She thought back to their travels together, and the Earth Queen's insistence that bending was spirit magic. But it wasn't magic, was it? It was just projecting one's energy onto the elements, the way one might project one's voice, or breath. Thinking wasn't magic, was it? But one could dream and plan for the future. And if you can think how to use your energy outside your body, that's just bending.

_So the question becomes… how much energy do you have, and how can you use it to get out of here alive?_

Just bending herself out by blasting the stone above her away wasn't going to work; there was no way to know the interplay of beams and bricks, and how lifting one might topple another onto someone else. Below her it seemed to be stable, however; she might be able to go down through the floor under her back and free herself to see the damage better.

She thought it out. Her right arm was more or less free. She began to dig with it, fingers entering the stone floor as though it were no stiffer thanclay. She pulled away handfuls of pebbles, slowly, and pushed them aside. Then she started to reach behind her back as much as she was able, and felt herself slipping into the depression she'd created.

That helped free her left arm, and when the nerves in it began to tingle from the release of pressure, she was relieved that she still had the use of it. Now she was able to wriggle, gingerly, to the side, and deepen the well she was in.

Lin had to rest. The broken rib was aching, and her breath came in short puffs. It'd be nice to have that waterbending healing right about now. She smiled a little, ruefully. _Mom would call me soft. Lily-livered._

After who knows how long, she was able to try again, scrabbling and rocking as she pulled handfuls of small stones away from below her. A finger punctured the floor, and she could feel cool air below her; a basement? Now. How to drop down without falling? More rest, first. Think it through again. Her arms and torso were somewhat free, and her hips. She couldn't sit up because of the beam, and her legs were still pinned. Free the legs, then. She used her hands in a sweeping motion, from the center outward, to soften and bend the stone downward, so that she was in a depression the length of her whole body.

_Not unlike a grave,_ her mind offered.

No. That wasn't how a Beifong worked. Beifongs bent stone; they bent metal. They were the hardest, toughest people. Harder than stone or metal. Diamonds? Tougher than that.

More rest. More rest. Working around an injury was a damned bother.

When she thought she had enough energy, she gathered her will. She pushed herself over, yelping in pain as she felt the ribs grind against each other. But she'd rolled over, and was now stomach-down in her little hollow. She raised her arms to her face, and began brushing the stone away, little by little, panting.

Finally, annoyed with her slow progress, she put her hands together as though diving, and pressed through the remaining thickness of floor, pushing through and then aside, to look down into the space below. It was pitch black. Dark as a cave. It could be ten feet deep, or two. Lin shut her eyes and whimpered in frustration.

No help was coming.

It was time to rest again, and at least there was cool air below. She pulled in as much of it as she could without causing too much more pain in her side.

Time, time. Taking so long to do anything. Fires burning, children crying. Stuck in the rubble. Irritated, she widened the hole she'd peered through, dropped a pebble down, and listened for it.It took a pause and a half to land. The sound wasn't sharp, not a _tik_ like landing on stone. There was softer dirt or clay down there. It didn't matter. She was done wasting time.

Grasping the edge of the hole with hands above her head, she willed the stone underneath her to open, and her legs dropped down below her. She swung forward. The pain in her side bit deep, she twisted, lost her grip, and fell a few feet to the floor. Lin heard the entire structure above her groan as the weights readjusted themselves, and felt a moment of terror, imagining the entire building coming down on her.

_No. No problem. No problem. Okay then. Okay._

Lin rose painfully to her feet, legs throbbing from having been trapped under the handrail, and her eyes adjusted to the darkness. It was a coal room, and where there's a coal room, there's a chute to receive the coal. She looked around the top edge of the basement room to find the chute, and there it was, a thin seam of light coming from around its edges, where the foundation had shifted away from the metal.

Favoring her right side and wounded rib, she squared her feet and extended her left hand. With a jerk inward, she pulled, and the cast-iron coal chute clanged onto the floor. Again the building groaned, and she cursed herself for forgetting to be cautious. She could have killed anyone still inside, and herself.

Still, now there was light, and she carefully climbed up the pile of loose coal on the floor to the opening, and was able to get up just high enough to look out onto the street. People were everywhere, wandering dazed, clutching whatever items they'd rescued from their homes.

"Hey!" she meant to call out, but her voice failed, and her vision filled with bright lights as she swooned from pain. She stumbled and slipped down the rolling lumps of coal.

_Okay, then. More rest._

She was tired. The injury and her efforts to escape had sapped her strength. Both bending and thinking were difficult. She’d fallen because eagerness to get out had overridden her caution, just like yanking out the coal chute. If she’d been thinking clearly, she could have saved enough energy to form the coal into steps, and simply walked up to open the chute and climb out.

Lin berated herself for being so rash. Two mistakes right in a row. A third was likely to get her killed, along with anyone else unlucky enough to be stuck in the building.

The longer she waited, the greater the risk of fire in the building, and her inability to help even herself caused her panic to rise. _No! Knock it off, Lin! You’re smarter than this. Sit and rest. Wait for the right time to strike._

Outside she heard voices. Rescuers were turning their attention to this building. She wasn’t ready to stand yet. They wouldn’t be looking in the basement, and they could easily miss her. She called out, as well as she could.

“Hey! Hey! Anybody?”

She heard no response, but she did hear noises above, distantly. They were beginning to move massive chunks of the walls away, from the top down. Piece by piece they would peel the building apart and stack the stones and beams somewhere; most earthbenders were trained in this rescue method. It was simple enough, though it could take time. The problem was that if she wasn’t heard, they might stop when they got to the bottom floor, and she’d still be trapped down here.

She called again. “Hey?” She was dismayed by the lack of volume in her voice.

Lin gathered all the strength she had left, stood, and formed steps. She climbed them on hands and knees through sheer force of will, and pushed her torso through the hole.

Someone spotted her emerging, and hands lifted her and pulled her away. Her eyes were closed as she was put on a stretcher and carried into the street.

A great crashing noise. The building was caving in upon itself, descending into the coal room and basement.

There were screams. They hadn’t finished their rescue.

Those holding her stretcher put her down fast, and they and others swarmed into the pile to start flinging debris away, hoping past hope there were still survivors. A flicker of hope was better than none.

She lay back, unable to rise and join them. The pain in her side was small; the crushing guilt was worse. She’d destabilized the building. Anybody still inside was probably dead now, because she’d been too eager to get out and save herself.

Warm hands touched her face, gently as butterflies.Kya was there, healing.

* * *

“This city has come together in the most remarkable way,” President Raiko’s disembodied voice announced, in a tinny voice from the radio. “Waterbenders and firebenders put out the fires with great speed, and the city’s many earthbenders made extraordinary efforts to rescue those trapped in the wreckage. This city’s noble and generous non-bending citizens have come to the aid of their fellows with food, blankets, and many offers of places to stay! While we mourn the—“

Kya stood and shut off the kitchen radio then, as Lin’s face turned toward the window. The day was bright and sunny. It felt like a lie.

“It wasn’t your fault, Lin.”

“I don’t know that.”

“The building was already in ruins.”

“I made it worse.”

“You _can’t_ know that.”

Lin was silent. Her tea was cold, and she hadn’t eaten since she’d been home, yesterday.

“You were badly injured, Lin. There wasn’t anything you could have done.”

“I could have waited,” Lin said.

“Right. Like I could have sat here at home and waited for you.”

Lin said nothing.

“I know why you wanted out.”

“I was scared. There were fires. I was afraid I’d die there.”

“That’s not why.”

“DAMMIT KYA!” Lin shouted.

Kya flinched, but Lin’s back was to her and she didn’t see it.

She opened cabinet doors, not looking for anything. “You wanted to help.”

Lin still said nothing.

* * *

 

Lin was at work, as though things were fine. A task force was assembled to combat looting in the stricken areas of Republic City. The worst of the damage appeared in the poorer parts of town, where the buildings were oldest and least well-built. Of course. The survivors there were living in a sort of tent-city of stone sheds, made by earthbending the rubble into simple structures. They had no plumbing or heat. Food and water were being trucked in daily, but security had to be provided lest it be taken by the triads.

It was like when the spirit vines overtook the downtown. The same people were moved from their low-rent homes to these neighborhoods, and they were refugees in their own city once again. Only more of them. Lin seethed. She wanted to jail every landlord.

Kya was right. The building was coming down anyway, and no matter what she’d done it would have fallen. Probably. She might just have been dead with the rest.She _should_ have been dead with the rest.

Meetings were brief, kept on target. An angry Mako wanted to head up the task force. He’d grown up on those rotten streets, in those bad neighborhoods. They got the worst of everything, every time. Bolin and Asami were out fundraising; the Avatar was here, there, everywhere. Tenzin, Bumi, Kya….even Katara were on the streets, healing the wounded, feeding the hungry.

All the people she knew the best, they were all up, moving, doing, helping. And she was back at her desk. Maybe _that_ was for the best. Out of the way. Budgets needed adjusting. Schedules needed setting.

She gritted her teeth.

* * *

In the darkest part of the night, Kya woke. Lin sat on the side of their bed.

“What is it?”

“Nightmare.”

“Tell me?”

“No.”

“Come here then.”

Kya took her arm, pulling her back down to put her head on her shoulder. She resisted, gently, but curled in, with a sigh. Kya stroked her hair in the darkness. After a few minutes, she got up again and walked out, and a lamp turned on in another room.

* * *

Kya found her at Li Han’s stall. Lin's brows lifted from her scowl in surprise.

Kya sat down beside her, as Li Han put noodles in front of her.

Lin poked at her rice with her chopsticks. She hadn't begun eating.

"Eat."

"…"

"I know you're hungry. Just eat."

Lin's scowl returned.

"Here, like this," Kya demonstrated, slurping noodles. One wiggled and slapped her in the nose.

There was a slight softening of Lin's face. She would not look at Kya directly, but Kya knew that face too well not to notice.

She shoveled a few mouthfuls in. Then more. She was hungry.

"That's it, love." Kya put a soft hand on the small of Lin's back.

Lin turned her face away. Her shoulders were up, tight as ropes on full sail.

"Come home."

Without turning to look at her, she reached back and took Kya's hand, and squeezed it. Then she walked off alone.

* * *

Daylight was long gone. Kya lay on the sofa staring at the ceiling, a book open on her stomach. She heard the door open, Lin's boots on the floor. She rose.

Lin came to her, took her hand, pulled her to the bedroom, slammed the door. Her jacket with the armored plates clattered on the floor.

Pushed her against the wall, and kissed her hungrily, roughly. Tugged her hair to find her throat, sucking hard, leaving a mark. Yanked up her dress, reaching under, groping. Dropped to her knees, shoving the dress folds aside.

Kya inhaled sharply, hands flat on the wall behind her, as Lin forcefully moved her leg over her shoulder. Her mouth was on her, sucking, probing with her tongue.

"Lin, Lin! Wait…"

Lin stood up. Her stance was that of a fighter, her face dark, and eyes under heavy brows glared at her with lust.

Lin was never like this, never rough.

She picked Kya up and carried her the few steps to the bed, and threw her down. She tore off her own shirt and bra, flinging them aside. Kya, on her elbows, backed away from her. Lin crawled atop her, and sucked at her throat again, scrabbling at her clothes. She pulled up the skirt, knocking her knees apart, exposing her.

Kya said, angrily, "Are you here to love me or to fuck me?"

Lin yanked back like she'd been slapped.

"You wanna be rough? Fine. But there are rules to being rough."

Lin would not meet her eyes. Her face and shoulders were dusky, flushed with shame.

"No? Then go take a shower. I need a minute."

* * *

The minute was much more than a minute. Lin showered and waited on the bed. Kya didn't return.

Eventually, she came out to the kitchen, and found Kya there, at the table, two glasses of amber liquid poured. She sat across from her. Kya took a sip from her glass, so Lin did too, and felt the hot bite of the whiskey.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Are you sorry to get out of trouble, or are you really sorry?"

Lin looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry," she said again.

Kya dropped her challenge. She put her hand out, palm up, and Lin put hers in it. She could feel Kya still shaking.

"I know this is how you are, Lin. When things get tough, you put on your armor. Not just the kind on your body. When you get down, or scared, you wall up and don't talk to me."

Lin's eyes dropped.

"We were all scared. I knew you were in that neighborhood, and I was so afraid when I felt the quake. Do you know how hard it was not knowing where you were?"

Lin shook her head.

"Nobody can control everything, no matter how hard we try. You know this. I know this. So I get that."

Lin's face turned to the window, black in the dark night.

"I get that you had no control over what happened, and you weren't able to get out and help anybody. Spirits, I can't even believe you managed to get yourself out! You had a broken rib and bruises on your chest and thighs. You were trapped under tons of rubble. It's a wonder you survived at all."

Lin's face twisted in pain. "It wasn't _fair._ Why them and not me?"

Kya sipped her drink, wincing at the sharp flavor of alcohol. "You can't take out your frustrations on me. That's not fair either."

Lin pulled her hand back. She sat, sunken.

"I know... I know that what you were...doing...was trying to feel in control. I understand, Lin, honestly."

Lin nodded.

"But you can't just take control away from me to help yourself."

Seconds passed, or hours.

"I feel worthless." Lin downed the drink, and poured another.

"You're too deep inside your armor to see that you're not."

Lin frowned.

"You forget. You forget, while you're dwelling on this one thing, about all the other things that you've done."

"I guess so."

"Pour me another. You do. You forget how much I love you. And why."

This stung. Lin's hand shook as she was pouring, and drops of the whiskey spilled on the table.

Kya waved a finger, and the droplets formed together, and floated between them. She brought it to her lips, and then hesitated, before sending it to hang weightlessly in the air just in front of Lin. Lin parted her lips just slightly, and the droplet melted onto them.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Lin said. "I've screwed this up too."

"You didn't. I know. But it's not permanent. Be a human, Lin. It's okay. We're not bad. We just make mistakes."

Lin's face softened again, as it had with the noodles.

“Come to bed.” Kya said, standing.

"Yes."

* * *

The morning brought a cold rain. Lin woke at her usual, early hour, but Kya wasn’t there. Unusual.

She dressed for work, remembering how badly she'd behaved as she picked up her armored jacket. It was true. She was always turning inward, away from everyone else. Away from Kya.

Katara was in the kitchen. Lin was still adjusting to her living with them. She felt so oddly formal with her.

"Good morning," Lin said, trying to seem cheerful.

"Lin! Good morning! if you're a turtle duck."

"It _is_ a little wet outside."

"I'm glad I caught you alone for once. Come and sit with me. Do you have a minute?"

Lin was surprised. "Of course.”

Katara poured her tea, and pushed the cup to her. "I'm sorry about what happened last week. We've all been so busy with handling things that I didn't get a chance to say so."

"Oh, it's nothing," Lin replied, looking aside.

"Hardly," Katara said. "Kya was beside herself with worry about you. When she pulled you from that building… " she sipped her tea, shaking her head.

Kya hadn't mentioned that. Lin felt her insides turn to ash.

"She knew you were doing everything you could to save those people. We're both so glad you came out safe."

"I… uh… thank you. I didn't realize…"

"That it was Kya that pulled you out? She made me promise not to tell you. I don't like that kind of secret-keeping."

Lin looked puzzled.

Katara went on. "Aang ran away when he found out he was the Avatar."

Lin was baffled. "What?"

"He had nightmares about it. They told him too soon, after the Fire Nation started gathering strength, before the usual age of sixteen. He was just a boy. So he ran away. He got caught in a storm, and he and Appa went down frozen in ice for a hundred years. You know that, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"He blamed himself for the death of all his people. He thought that if he'd been there, he'd have been able to stop it and save them. But most likely he would have died with them, and the war would have been lost right then."

Lin shifted uncomfortably. Kya had probably told Katara about how poorly Lin was coping with the same feelings.

"Life is so strange, isn't it?"

Lin nodded in agreement, solemnly.

"Kya told me not to tell you she pulled you from that building, because when she saw you, she practically flew over to you. She'd been working to save a man. He had internal injuries, like Jet, and I don't think she was going to save him, but she was trying so hard. And then she saw you, and had to decide in an instant."

Lin's mouth was open in astonishment.

"She feels bad about it. She knows there wasn't any way to save him and you too. So she chose you. I'm glad she did."

"I… I'm glad she did, too!"

"We never know how things are going to end up, do we? She had to be in just the right place at just the right time, or she wouldn't have saved you. You had to be in just the right place at just the right time to meet her, last year. I couldn't save Jet, but if I had, I might not have known the man Aang would become."

Lin had no idea who Jet was, but that could wait.

"All these things are connected." She sighed and sipped some tea.

A few moments later, she said, "I miss Toph."

Lin frowned, puzzled again. Katara laughed. "Sorry… my train of thought is all connected too, but you don't see it. We met a bender in the swamp named Huu. Huu explained how the swamp was all connected, and how all life is connected, if you look at it the right way. When Aang was in the swamp, he had a vision of Toph. We met your mother not long after that."

Lin smiled. "She asked about you when we were there."

"I should visit her."

And then, another sip later, "Jet was a freedom fighter from the Earth Kingdom. He'd lost his parents to the Fire Nation. He did some bad things, but later, we found him in Ba Sing Se, and he helped us find Appa. He didn't make it out of Lake Laogai, where they'd been keeping Appa." Katara sighed, remembering. "He was pretty hot."

* * *

 

Reconstruction was going well. Mako’s task force had the looting stopped, and they were watching the contractors with sharp eyes, looking for bribery and kickbacks, preventing them from taking cheap shortcuts. These homes were going to be good, solid homes, not death traps.

The rain continued to pour. Lin went from the construction sites to the refugee camp. Katara told her Kya was there, answering a call for a midwife. She brought along a couple of boxes of dumplings for lunch.

She parked the police car outside one of the stone huts, the one people pointed out for her, patiently waiting for Kya to finish. She heard the mother’s cries, and the newborn’s squalling, and laughter from the family. After another half an hour or so, Kya emerged. Lin tooted the car’s horn at her, and with a wide smile, she dashed over to the car and climbed inside.

“Thanks! I wasn’t looking forward to walking home in that rain.”

“I brought you some lunch.”

“Aren’t you sweet?” Kya said, and leaned to kiss her cheek, but as she did, Lin turned and met her lips gently with her own. Lin’s fingers touched Kya’s hair, softly.

“I’m so sorry,” Lin said, quietly.

“I am too,” Kya said, sitting back. “I realized on my way here this morning that since the quake, I’ve done nothing but tell you what to do. Relax. Eat. Come home. Tell me about your nightmare. Take a shower. Come to bed.” She looked out the front window, into the rain, seeing nothing. “You were in a situation where you felt like you had no control, and I kept taking control from you, trying to make you feel better.”

“But you were right, Kya. I do forget. I do wall off. I know you were trying to help. You did help. I wouldn’t be here to tell you if you hadn’t helped me.”

“Mom told you.”

“She said she didn’t like that kind of secret-keeping.”

“I know she doesn’t.”

“But I don’t understand it. You felt just like I did, but you were able to keep going.”

“Not exactly. I knew that guy wasn’t going to make it. I mean, I did my best, but I knew. But you? You dug your way out from under a whole building, so that you could go back into it and rescue other people. That was so much more.”

“I didn’t rescue anyone. It’s possible I ended up killing them.”

“Did you mean to?”

“No! Of course not! This isn’t a damned joke, Kya.”

Kya wasn’t deterred. Her tone was serious. “I’m not joking either. In other words, if you hadn’t been injured, and you’d been outside the building, you would have saved them?”

“I’d have tried.”

“But you might have failed then too.”

“Maybe.”

“So either way, either digging yourself out to save them—badly injured, with a broken rib—or coming in whole to save them, that building could have collapsed either way?”

“Maybe.”

“So what you’re saying is that it might not have been possible to save them.”

“No. It might not.”

“But either way, you tried.”

“I guess.”

“Look, Lin. The world? It’s awful. Life? Stinks. We fail every day, but we keep trying, don’t we?”

Lin stared at her hands.

“How did you learn to earthbend?”

“Mom.”

“No, but how? Earthbending is hard. Did you get it on your first try?”

“Ha! No.”

“It took work, didn’t it? And practice. And you failed, and you fell, a lot of times, didn’t you?”

“I did. Mom kicked my butt a lot.”

“Why didn’t you quit, then?”

“I…she… I didn’t want to. She wouldn’t let me.”

“Do you want to quit trying to help people?”

“No.”

“Do you think I’ll let you quit?”

Lin chuckled. “No. No.”

“Do you think I’ll give up on you?”

“Spirits, I hope not.” She turned to Kya and kissed her again.

“Wha’d you bring me?”

“Dumplings. Of course.”

“Ooooh! You DO love me!”

“I do love you.”

* * *

“What did you mean, if I wanna be rough, there are rules to being rough?”

LIn’s head was on Kya’s shoulder, and a leg was across her. Kya was teasing the hair on the top of Lin’s head. The window was open, and they could hear the rain out in the garden. It was dark, but for a bedside lamp.

Kya grinned crookedly. “Well…are you sure you want to know?”

Lin snorted. “No.”

“Some people… I’m not saying me, but _some people_ … they do like to play a little rough. Pinching. Maybe some spanking. Bites. That sort of thing. Or more. Ropes. Cuffs. Whips.”

Lin made a skeptical face.

“I’m NOT saying me. But still. Pushing somebody up against the wall, like you did? Now, under the right circumstances, that’s really sexy.”

“And what are the right circumstances?”

“Well, I’d expect you to say hello, first,” she laughed. “But seriously, I’d want to know that you were in a good place. That you were happy. That your motivation wasn’t anger.”

“Okay. Yeah. I can see that.”

“Sometimes, _some people,_ you know… they have a word. Like, you can do almost anything you want, but if I use the word, you have to stop, no questions asked.”

“That seems reasonable.”

“It is.”

“Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Like to play rough?”

“Me? Oh. Oh. Well. Um.”

“I’m just asking.”

“I don’t know? I don’t think so. But… you know.”

“No, I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.”

“You. You’re… powerful. Scary powerful. You do know this, right?”

“Am I?”

“Are you kidding me, Lin? You’re a force of nature. I would _not_ mess with you.”

Lin grinned. “But I let you mess with me all the time.”

“Not like that,” Kya laughed again, rocking a little from side to side. “See, that’s why I love you. Well, one reason. There are a million more, but that’s one reason. When you let me take control, I know you trust me. That’s… exciting. You, vulnerable. That’s a gift.”

Lin considered this. “Yeah, all right.” She shifted slightly, nuzzling.

“But.”

“But?”

“When you’re in control? Oh… wow. That power is. So very. You’re… irresistible.”

“Is that so?” Lin asked, grinning, and getting up on her knees.

“Truth.”

Lin pinned Kya’s hands down, and made straight for the spot beneath her ear. Gentle kisses trailed down her throat, and then suddenly, she sucked hard, bruising.

“LIN!”

“What?”

“Aw, monkeyfeathers! Now I’m going to have to wear a scarf!”

Lin leaned back on her haunches, and laughed. “Sorry.”

Kya pinched her ass. “Now we’re even.”

“I don’t think I like it rough,” Lin said. “Soft is good.”

“Soft is very good.”

Lin came back up, and they intertwined their fingers. Lin kissed her lips, softly, again and again. She stretched her legs back, and lay atop Kya, her full weight upon her, their mouths joined now. Her arms came around and down, and she slipped her hands beneath Kya’s lower back, pressing her fingers into the soft skin.

Kya’s fingers traveled Lin’s back, feeling the muscles. Her legs opened and Lin sank between them. She wrapped them around Lin.

Lin’s hands came up from underneath. One hand supported her, while her right palm passed over Kya’s hip, her side, her breast. She pulled up from the kiss and cupped Kya’s cheek, and looked into her eyes. Lin’s eyes were questioning; Kya’s answered.

Her hand reached down, between their legs, and she slowly pressed into Kya’s sex. She made small, light circles around the soft folds, occasionally crossing across the sensitive bud of her clitoris, and when she did, Kya jerked involuntarily.

Finally, when she was satisfied with the slippery warmth, knowing Kya was ready, she pushed two fingers deep inside. Kya sighed and leaned her head back. She pulled out and thrust in again, the wrist against her pelvis.Her hips moved in time with the thrusting of her fingers. Her thumb circled around the swollen clit between strokes.

“More,” Kya groaned, “harder.”

Lin shifted her weight, and Kya felt the flex of the muscles in her back under her hands. This was the power she found so intoxicating, the irresistible strength, held just in check. Energy, vitality and force, in sinew, bone and flesh, every ounce of tremendous power, focused on her alone.

It was working. The motion of Lin’s hand in the flood of warm wetness built that sensation, built tension throughout her body. Her muscles stiffened in anticipation, and Lin could feel the grip on her fingers. Kya opened her eyes, just for a moment, and caught her lover watching her reach her peak with deep concentration, pushing her toward it, but making every second count.

In that moment, Lin smiled, and that was enough. Kya cried out, the tide crashing through her. She jolted forward repeatedly, clenching around the center of stimulus. Her hands clutched at Lin’s back.

Lin slowed but did not stop. She wanted Kya to keep coming, and she wrung every bit of pleasure out.

“Okay, gotta stop, please stop,” Kya panted.

Lin obliged.

* * *

“Still raining,” Kya observed, looking out the kitchen window.

“Doesn’t matter. Gotta keep going. It’s almost the weekend.”

“You gonna be all right, love?”

“Yeah, I’ll be all right.” Lin crossed the room to kiss her, as she pulled on the jacket. The armored plates settled into position. “I just need a little time.”

“Dinner at Song’s tonight?”

“Is your mom coming?”

“Is that all right?”

“Oh yeah. I want to hear about Jet.”

“Who?”

“See you at six,” Lin winked.


End file.
